My DS is coming up on 6 months. Since I have been BFing on demand, we had a very loose schedule where basically I knew he would need a nap after being awake for about 2 hours. I would usually feed him when he woke up from a nap, and then he would be awake for about 2 hours, then we would take another nap. I would attempt to at least do things in the same order every day even if it wasn't at the same time. So other than feedings, we would get up, play in the bedroom for a while, play on his activity mat, take a nap, get dressed, go for an outing, take a nap, have tummy time, sit at the table with DH and I for dinner, possibly take a quick evening nap, take a walk as a family, start bedtime routine. We would typically do this every day in the same order.

Now, he seems to need less sleep during the night and he's going for longer periods without wanting to nap. So at this age, I'm guessing he can handle more time awake?

My question is, do you follow any kind of schedule? I find it hard to follow the clock with BFing, and even though he doesn't really feed on demand anymore during the day, he still does at night which makes his first daytime feeding vary. Do you try to schedule naps to be at the same time every day? I was going by what time he woke up, for example, if he woke up at 8am he would have his first nap at 10am. He did really well with that, but now, he's just not tired after 2 hours. Do you think it's better to just follow his cues and put him down when he seems tired?

I'm worried that he doesn't have a "predictable" routine. I was really trying to do things in the same order every day, but now that naps are all out of whack I don't know what to do...he still varies wildly in how often he wants to nurse, so scheduling that is just useless, but should I schedule other things?

Not sure if i'm the best example, since I've tried a schedule for a few months and now DS is 5 1/2 mo, but I'm curious what everyone else's sched looks like, too. At 6mo, they should be able to go more like 3 hrs btwn naps, so that's prob why you're running into that prob. I think every baby/mama is different. If it works for you to do what you've been doing, don't stress yourself trying to stick to a schedule! My DS doesn't sleep well, so I try everything! Here's our typical day
Wakes around 5:30. Up w/DH at 6, while I sleep. Nurse and back down around 8 for 1/2 hr nap. If he doesn't go down, we go for a walk and he normally falls asleep in the mei tai. Up, play, run errands, whatever, and nurse back down at 11. Normally he sleeps til 2, but wakes 2-3 times and I nurse him back to sleep. More play, errands, etc. Lights get turned down around 6, bath at 7, nurse to sleep around 730.
I take it day by day though, according to him and it does change a lot! I'm thinking of switching to 2 naps, if only he could sleep longer!!!

Lovin my boys DH, DS1 (4/7/10), and DS2 (2/19/12)...and - surprise! - another on the way

We tend to go by time-between-naps, as well, although now that Sprout is hitting 6 months and going longer, things are up in the air. The transition from 3 to 2 naps isn't instantaneous, so for a few weeks or a month, things won't be as predictible. Sometimes he'll need 3 naps, sometimes 2 (sometimes, like today, he'll get by with 1!). Don't worry that things aren't exactly the same day-to-day -- it's not going to hurt anything. He'll settle back into a routine once he's made the transition.

Just put him down when he's tired. If he isn't when it's the usual nap time, we just carry him around as we do chores or whatever and put him down when he's about to fall asleep on our shoulders.

ETA -- Oh, and we don't schedule feeding at all. I don't even track it. Annoys our pediatrician to no end when she wants to know how often he nurses.

I couldn't get Astrid to nap for the life of me until she hit 6 months. 30 min used to be her max and even that was hit or miss. Suddenly after 6mo, it seems like she wants to sleep all day! Now, our schedule is totally nap driven. Two hours seems like how long she lasts between naps. When she starts getting tired or cranky I lie down with her and nurse her to sleep. As long as I stay down with her, she'll sleep for 2-3 hrs. Eating and napping seem to go hand in hand these days.
She was pretty consistent about the timing for a couple of weeks (10am and 2pm naps like clockwork, so I didn't even have to wait for signs of tiredness, I could just lay her down and she'd conk out). But the schedule has been weird this week so I've just been following her cues.
The only part of our schedule that isn't nap driven is dinner time. She usually gets tired right around the time dh is getting home and we're eating dinner. But, she (and we) just have to suffer through the grumpy time so that we can eat before going to bed.

Shanti- Momma to Astrid Mathilde (3/14/10) and expecting a new addition (3/27/12)!

Were comming up on 7 months so mines arounda month older.. (Actually I see by your siggie out LO are exactly one month apart) We dont follow a schedule persay but shes does follow a pretty reliable rountinue.. and it lossly goes like this..

7:30am wakes and nurses (she at this point been cosleeping and nursing on and off since 2am )

8am actuall get outta bed gets a little yogurt with cereal and fruit

9:30ish nurses then naps
12pm up from nap nurses
12-2 up playing helping mommy ect if there is an errend I try to do it at this time..
2/2:15ish pm nurses (shes pretty much asks around this time but if not I offer)
2:30ish she gets a chance for some fruit
2:40 leave to go get older DD from school
3:30ish back home nurses
3:30-5:00 rest period I take her with me and have her lay down if shes not tired mommy certaintly is, DD1 uses the time to unwind play outside sometimes joins us ect..
5pm nurses (I'll offer)
5-6 pm I get dinner ready baby helps
6pmish dinner baby gets some form of solids..
after shes gets cleaned up bathed if a bath night in her jammies and Nursed once more
Bedtime by 7:30 ussualy by 7pm
sleeps in her crib till around 2am then joins me and cosleeps/ nurses till morning...

Deanna

Wife to DH since August 01 mom to a bubbly girl October 2002 and our newest gal March 2010

At 6 months, mine have been very similar (I have had two so far; current baby is 3 months old). They are still firmly taking 3 naps a day (one went to 2 naps at 9 months; the other at 11 months). We're an early family, so it looks like this:

5:45 wake
6:45-8:45 nap
11-1 nap
3-5 nap
7:30ish bedtime

This current baby might be a little different. He sleeps later in the morning (usually until 8ish or so), so for him, he might go to 2 naps earlier. Plus, that 11-1 nap stage is killer. Too early for the others to have rest time, and it's in the middle of stuff we want to do. I'll probably aim for this:

Cecilia is 6 months next week and is still very firmly in the awake-for-two-hours mode. She isn't scheduled, per se, because she wakes up at different times every day, but after waking up she generally goes down about an hour later for her first nap, and then is down for a 2-3 hour nap 2 hours after that. Her last nap of the day is generally shorter, and happens around 5:30-6:30 or 6:00-7:00. Bedtime is 2 hours after she gets up from that nap.

I always just followed baby's lead. When she wanted to nurse, she'd let me know, and I'd offer a lot, too, of course. When she was tired, she'd to go sleep (either nursing or she'd get a bit fussy and I'd bounce/rock/etc her to sleep. When she got up, we'd do whatever was next on the schedule for the day-- going to mom's group/LLL/the store, whatever. I certainly did not schedule feedings! Seriously, every time you think you've got the routine down, baby will change it! They grow so fast at this point. If a routine lasted two weeks, that was pretty good! Then nap time would shift a bit, just different needs for that little body, we always figured

DD is 6 months and we dont follow a clock at all. I do try to do things in the same routine everyday, but sometimes that gets messed up by taking day trips, or having company over. (We live far out in the country, so this is our social interaction).Ususally we wake up, somewhere around 5:30 and we nurse for about an hour. SHe usually falls back asleep, but sometimes she stays awake and plays while I rest for awhile. She does eventually fall back asleep, and she gets up around 9. We usually play and read, then we try to eat some breakfast. After that, she has a quick rinse off in the sink and I wrap her up in a towel and we nurse until she falls asleep. She usually sleeps for about 2 hours. When she wakes up , I give her some time by herself to play in the bed or in her pack n play. (our bed has rails). When she starts to fuss, we nurse and then we play together for a little bit. The we nurse some more and I strap her in the moby and she "helps" me do my chores. She takes an afternoon nap for about 2 hours, and then we try solids again. Another spray off in the sink and we nurse for about 2 hours on and off while we make dinner, clean up our mess, harvest from the garden, and DH gets home. Then she plays with DH for about an hour. Then she gets a bath/shower (bath if I bathe her, shower if DH does) and we go to bed with the lights off, and nurse until she falls asleep.

I am jealous of you mamas that say your kiddo only stays awake for 2 hours at a time. That has not been the case here.